Villarreal's slide continued as a Diego Castro header gave Getafe a 1-1 draw in La Liga on Sunday but the match was overshadowed by a serious injury to Mateo Musacchio.
Athletic Bilbao ended Getafe's run of four straight wins and climbed above them into fifth place in La Liga when Aymeric Laporte's early bullet header secured a 1-0 win at the Coliseum in Madrid on Monday.
Marco Asensio's strike earned Real Madrid a 1-0 win over Espanyol to send them top of La Liga and Thomas Lemar scored his first goal for Atletico Madrid in a 2-0 victory at Getafe on Saturday.
Sevilla's hopes of a place in European competition next season suffered a big blow when they let slip a one-goal lead to lose 5-1 at Getafe in La Liga on Monday.
The victory saw the unfashionable Madrid club tighten their grip on the coveted fourth spot in the table by moving on to 58 points after 36 games, three points clear of nearest challengers Sevilla, who lost to Leganes on Friday.
Athletic Bilbao forward Urko Vera netted his first La Liga goal deep into added time to snatch a 2-2 draw for the Basque club at Getafe on Monday.
Cristiano Ronaldo netted his 18th and 19th La Liga goals of the season as Real Madrid survived some late pressure to win 3-2 at city rivals Getafe on Monday and trim the gap to leaders Barcelona back to two points.
IMAGES from football matches played across Europe on Wednesday.
Brazilian ace Ronaldo returned from injury to give Real Madrid a 1-0 victory in the Primera Liga.
Lionel Messi notched up his 35th league goal of the season as an understrength Barcelona strolled to a crushing 6-1 home win against Getafe that put them 12 points clear at the top of La Liga on Sunday.
Cristiano Ronaldo ended a barren scoring run in La Liga by striking late to give Real Madrid a 2-1 win at neighbours Getafe on Saturday, preventing what would have been a costly and embarrassing draw for the Spanish and European champions.
Barcelona's Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar motored past 100 goals for the season.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Atletico Madrid slipped three points behind second-placed Real Madrid after having two players sent off in a 0-0 draw at Getafe in La Liga on Sunday.
Barcelona snatched a late 2-1 win at Getafe with Paulinho's strike sending them seven points clear of arch-rivals Real Madrid at the top of La Liga.
Sevilla were on course for a place in the King's Cup semi-finals after crushing Deportivo Coruna 3-0 at the Riazor in their last-eight first leg match on Wednesday.
Vinicius Jr came off the bench to score once and set up another goal to steer champions Real Madrid to a 4-1 fightback victory over Espanyol.
Leaders Barcelona survived red cards for Gerard Pique and Rafael Marquez to complete a 2-1 victory over Getafe in La Liga on Saturday while Real Madrid kept pace with a 3-0 win at home to Espanyol.
Alvaro Negredo struck in stoppage-time as stuttering Valencia won 2-1 against his former club Sevilla on Sunday to earn coach Pako Ayesteran victory in his first home game in charge since succeeding Gary Neville.
Striker Aduriz opened the scoring in the sixth minute at the San Mames with a trademark header before midfielder Garcia, who joined from Atletico Madrid last month, nodded in a second in the 24th minute.
Getafe scored a 1-1 draw at Bayern Munich on Thursday to improve their hopes of reaching the UEFA Cup semi-finals in their debut European season. Bayer Leverkusen were routed 4-1 at home by Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg, while Fiorentina were held to a 1-1 draw at home by PSV Eindhoven and a bad-tempered clash in Glasgow ended goalless between Rangers and Sporting.
Barcelona received a welcome boost on Tuesday when forward Lionel Messi was given the all-clear by medical staff and included in the squad for Wednesday's King's Cup last 16, first leg at home to Getafe.
A round-up of European football news over the weekend.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Barcelona closed to within two points of leaders Real Madrid after thumping Levante 5-1.
Real Madrid stayed hard on the heels of leaders Barcelona when in-form striker Karim Benzema scored to set them on their way to a 2-1 win at battling city rivals Atletico in La Liga on Saturday.
Real Madrid extended their dominance over city rivals Atletico and maintained their one-point lead at the top of La Liga when Ricardo Carvalho and Mesut Ozil scored in a comfortable 2-0 home win on Sunday.
Real Madrid extended their unbeaten run to 25 matches and rejoined Barcelona and Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga when Jese, Karim Benzema and Luka Modric scored in a 3-0 win at Getafe on Sunday.
Valencia continued their solid start to La Liga and climbed to second when recent Spain recruit Paco Alcacer set them on their way to a 3-0 win at Getafe on Monday.
Leaders Barcelona played out a second straight 0-0 draw in LaLiga after mid-table Getafe battled for a home point in a hard-fought game on Sunday.
Messi beat seven players, covering 48 metres in 12 seconds, taking 10 touches with his left foot and three with his right before finding the net.
Images from soccer matches held across Europe on Saturday, March 16.
Champions Real Madrid earned a 2-0 win in a feisty LaLiga encounter at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday to ensure they stayed in the hunt for the LaLiga title with leaders Barcelona.
Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric came off the bench to net a stunning strike from the edge of the box late in the second half to secure a 1-0 home win over Sevilla on Sunday and stretch their lead at the top of La Liga to eight points.
Bayer Leverkusen beat Freiburg 3-2 to edge closer to a first ever Bundesliga title.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Barcelona have won the Champions League five times, most recently in 2015, and face a tough task to get back to the top table of European football after being forced to sell club legend Lionel Messi due to financial problems.
Manchester United bolstered their squad with a flurry of transfer deadline day signings, Manchester City and Liverpool also splashed out while ambitious Brighton & Hove Albion sealed an audacious loan deal for Barcelona's Ansu Fati on Friday.
Antoine Griezmann and Samuel Lino scored in each half to give Atletico Madrid a 2-0 win over Lazio on Wednesday that secured them top spot in Champions League Group E, the first time since 2016 that they had reached the knockouts as group winners.
The Polish striker will miss games against Espanyol, Atletico Madrid and Getafe when LaLiga resumes after the World Cup.
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